


Protect

by idkimoutofideas



Series: Meet Your Neighbors [2]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-05 20:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20494907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkimoutofideas/pseuds/idkimoutofideas
Summary: The story of how Eliot lost his eye





	Protect

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to firstlovelatespring for beta reading this for me!

Another gunshot went off from a room down the hall, and the guy he was fighting looked away for half a second, giving Eliot the advantage. He quickly knocked the guy off balance, swept around behind him, and snapped his neck. The body dropped to the floor with a soft thud and Eliot tensed, ready for someone to jump out of the room and attack him. 

Eliot had been sent on a mission to retrieve someone who was willing to give up certain information regarding the local terrorist cell in exchange for the protection of his wife and their three kids. Unfortunately, the terrorists had gotten wind of it, and what had started as a simple extraction mission had turned into a much more dangerous rescue mission. 

Eliot had been sent in along with Cooper to escort the target to safety, but they weren’t enough. There had been a brief scuffle on the first floor, and Cooper… Cooper didn’t make it. Eliot savored the revenge he got, but it didn’t bring Cooper back.

Now Eliot was left in a house full of terrorists, and five people he was supposed to protect. 

Fortunately, the only terrorists left alive were all in the room at the end of the hall. He had no time to waste, as Eliot knew a bomb was also planted somewhere in the house, so he quickly moved towards said room, his shoes squeaking on the gasoline soaked floor. He heard people talking, as well as what sounded like the target pleading, and Eliot carefully peered through the two inch opening in the door.

Three guys: two with AK-47s, one tall and one short; and one with a Glock. From his position, Eliot could see two- no, three bodies lying motionless on the ground. He could hear the target pleading still, as well as soft crying, which meant that the bodies were the wife and two of their kids; leaving two people he could still protect. Eliot grabbed one knife in each hand, took a steadying breath, and burst in the room.

The first knife flew from his left hand and embedded itself directly in the throat of Tall AK. He made a gurgling cry as his hands went up to try and staunch the flow of blood, but it was too much and he quickly fell to the ground. Eliot swiped at Glock with his right hand, slicing into his chest. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to hurt. 

At that moment, Eliot realized he had miscalculated. There was a fourth guy standing in the room, with an Uzi aimed at the target. Eliot put his weight on his back foot and kicked out, catching Glock in the chest and causing him to go stumbling backwards. He crashed into Uzi, sending off a spray of bullets. Eliot lunged at Short AK and quickly dispatched of him, then turned to face the last two attackers.

Both Glock and Uzi had recovered and were aiming their guns at him, even though he was well inside their effective range. Eliot dodged to the left, forcing them to get in each others space. He saw an opening and kicked out, sending Glock’s gun spinning through the air until it landed several feet away.

Without missing a beat, Glock pulled out a knife and lunged at him. They fought for a minute, two against one, but Eliot used the close quarters to his advantage. Within moments Eliot had disarmed Uzi, smacking him across the head with the butt of his own gun. Using his momentary distraction, Eliot moved in and dug his knife into Uzi’s side. He ripped the knife up and across Uzi’s chest, effectively eviscerating him.

Uzi’s mouth opened in a silent scream as he fell to the ground in shock. Not the cleanest way to kill someone; Eliot gave Uzi no more than a minute to live.

Eliot would’ve put Uzi out of his misery, but it was all he could do to block the next blow from Glock. Eliot took a quick step backwards, but the knife caught him across the forearm.

They traded blows, Eliot giving Glock a deep gash across his arm. In retaliation, Glock kicked out at Eliot’s right knee. There was a pop and a sharp wave of pain rolled up Eliot’s leg, but he dismissed the pain and continued fighting.

Something wrapped around Eliot’s ankle, and he looked down to see Uzi grasping onto his pant leg. He was trying to pull Eliot off balance, but he was so weak Eliot quickly shook his hand off. Eliot saw Glock lash out at him out of the corner of his eye, and he automatically moved to block it.

Eliot realized he had made a mistake half a second too late. The first swing had been a feint, and when Eliot moved to block it, Glock swung the knife in his other hand upward. Eliot tried to dodge out of the way, but didn’t move far enough.

A scorching, burning pain burst across the left side of Eliot’s face. He yelled as he stumbled backwards and screwed his eyes shut. The action made the pain even more intense, and he brought up a hand to cover the wound, maybe try and stop the bleeding, he wasn’t really sure anymore he just knew it hurt. His hand came up to cover the left side of his face, and Eliot’s stomach flipped when he realized what, exactly, the knife had cut. He could feel his breath coming in shallow gasps and distantly recognized that he was hyperventilating. His hand hovered over the place where his eye had been.

_ Protect_. 

The thought was half formed, just a reminder that he was on a mission. He had to complete his mission. He had to protect the target. 

With that, his eyes- _ eye _ snapped open, and he was momentarily disconcerted by the fact that he was on his hands and knees. He hadn’t even realized he had fallen. Eliot raised his gaze until his focus solidified on Glock, who was currently in the process of fumbling with his gun and pointing it at the target that _ Eliot had to protect _. 

He reacted automatically, hands reaching for the nearest knife, picking it up from where he had dropped it and throwing it at Glock. The sudden movement made his head swim and he almost fell over again, the gunshot that went off a moment later didn’t help his feeling of vertigo.

_ Protect_. 

Eliot forced himself to look up again and was satisfied to see the knife embedded in Glock’s side, even if he was still standing. Glock stumbled out of the room, aiming one last kick at Eliot, taking his knees out from under him just as he had started to rise. It was just Eliot now, alone with the target that really should be making more noise.

Eliot peeled himself off the ground and crawled over to where the target was slumped against the wall. With a sinking feeling, Eliot reached out and felt for a pulse, even though he could see multiple gunshot wounds in the target’s chest. Nothing.

There was a very distinctive _ fwoosh _ sound out in the hall. Someone had lit the trail of gasoline that was spread throughout the house. Eliot gritted his teeth, immediately regretting it as it sent waves of pain shooting through his skull. He had failed his mission. 

Eliot collapsed, his eyes fluttering closed. He failed. Cooper had died to get him there but he still failed. He would’ve been content to stay there until he died when he heard something move.

Looking around, it took several seconds for Eliot to realize that one of the target’s daughters was still alive, curled up against her mother’s side.

_ Protect_. 

Eliot may have failed to protect the target, and his wife, and two of their kids, but this one he could still save. Even if he couldn’t bring her all the way to the extraction point, he could at least get her out of the house. 

Eliot attempted to stand and nearly fell over, the pain and dizziness making his head swim as he tried to rise to his feet. Taking a deep breath, Eliot took all acknowledgement of the pain he was feeling and pushed it to the back of his mind, locking it behind walls with years of practice. Pain was just a message, Eliot told himself. A message that he could ignore.

With that, Eliot forced himself to move over next to the daughter, staying low and holding out his hands to show he wasn’t a threat. 

“I’m here to protect you,” Eliot said in garbled Arabic. He knew how he must look, covered in blood, some of it his, some of it not, with a large gash across half his face. “I can take you to a safe place.” They stayed like that for a moment, Eliot’s leg screamed for him to rise out of his crouch. But he didn’t dare move, she was still watching him with wide eyes and he didn’t want to scare her. Finally she reached out and tentatively took his hand. Eliot stood up, pulling her to her feet as well, immediately feeling how hot the air had already gotten.

The movement caused his leg to cramp and his head to swim, and he almost fell over from the dizziness that followed.

_ Protect_.

The pain radiating through his body made it hard to think, but he forced himself to try. He had to get her to safety. 

They were on the second floor, so they couldn’t just go out the window, though if he wasn't injured he could’ve made it work. Instead Eliot led the way, limping over to the door with the girl trailing behind him. 

On his way in, he had noted that one of the rooms had a balcony and a trellis that would make climbing down easy. It took him a couple tries, but eventually he found the right room. He forced the balcony door open, trying not to grit his teeth as every movement sent waves of pain through his body.

_ Protect. _

“We can climb down,” Eliot said. Turning to look at the daughter, he saw that she had backed up, and was shaking her head vehemently. They didn’t have time for this, every second the heat was getting more intense and more and more smoke was pouring out of the windows. There was still a bomb somewhere in the house, and Eliot didn’t know how much longer was on the timer.

Eliot crouched down until he was at eye level with her, and though he tried not to put too much weight on his bad leg, it still screamed in pain. He looked her in the eyes, took in the scared expression on her face, the splatters of blood that dotted her clothes, her long black hair that was tangled and fell messily around her shoulders. “What’s your name?” he asked softly. She looked at him with wide eyes for several seconds, making him question how well he could speak Arabic. 

“A’Yan.” Her voice was so soft that Eliot barely caught it. 

_ Protect. _

“My name’s Eliot.” He smiled at her reassuringly. “I can get you out of here safely, but I need you to climb on my back and hold on tight, okay?” She looked between him and the door, which already had smoke billowing out from under it. Finally she nodded and Eliot helped her climb onto his back, his entire body protesting at the added weight. 

“Hold on tight.” Carefully, Eliot climbed over the rail and ever so slowly started to descend. Trying to climb in the dark with only one eye was nearly impossible, made worse by the fact that every time he put weight on his right leg it sent waves of pain rolling up his body.

_ Protect_. 

He landed awkwardly on the ground, muffling a groan as the landing jolted his leg. As he started moving away from the house, he shifted A’Yan so he was holding her against his chest. He could move faster that way. Eliot sped up, forcibly ignoring how his entire body protested.

They had barely made it 50 feet away from the house when an explosion ripped through the air. Eliot stumbled, falling to his knees with a gasp of pain and shielding A’Yan with his body. 

_ Protect_.

Eliot glanced back to see the after effects of the explosion, a large cloud of smoke billowing up from the ruins of the house. The fire was raging now, consuming the entire building, and Eliot forced himself back to his feet. He nearly fell over again, dizzy from pain and blood loss, but he had to get her to the extraction point. He had to.

_ Protect_. 

Every step he took jolted his wounds and made his head swim. It was hard to judge how rough the terrain was with only one eye, but eventually he found the steady rhythm he needed in order to run. The ground was passing by under his feet, but Eliot felt disconnected from his body. The pain was there, but it wasn’t his anymore.

_ Protect_. 

Just a little farther and Eliot should be able to spot the helicopter waiting to get her to safety. He just hoped he could stay conscious long enough to get her there.

_ Protect_. 

There. That gray blob in the distance. The first hints of sunlight glinting off a metal exterior. His entire body protested, but he forced himself to keep going.

_ Protect_. 

Seconds later—or was it several minutes later? He couldn’t tell anymore—they arrived at the helicopter.

_ Protect_. 

People buzzed around him, but he waited until he saw someone he recognized to hand A’Yan off.

_ Protect_.

The moment she was out of his hands, he collapsed.


End file.
